Baltimore Sun

As a subscriber to The Baltimore Sun for fifty years or more, I just want to comment on the improvement to the newspaper lately. My husband and I had just about given up on The Sun and started a subscription to the Washington Post (we did not cancel our Sun subscription). In the past few months, the change has been noticeable. For a while, the paper came with two very thin sections. The feature sections have grown and there is more to read daily and on weekends. The news still isn't what it used to be and we still get the Post since it does provide more national news, but kudos to your new editor.

The sharp reduction in violent crime that occurred on Martin O'Malley's watch as mayor of Baltimore is a central theme of the speech he gives as he travels the country and lays the groundwork for a presidential campaign. But ongoing criticism from the city's current mayor could focus attention on an aspect of O'Malley's crime-fighting record he never mentions in New Hampshire or Iowa: A soaring arrest rate during his tenure in Baltimore that angered civil rights groups and locked the city into a yearslong legal dispute.

Heavy rain forecast through the night in Kansas City prompted Major League Baseball to postpone American League Championship Series Game 3 between the Orioles and Royals in Kansas City. Nearly three-quarters of an inch of rain had fallen there as of 3 p.m. central time, and as much as another half inch of rain is possible through Monday night, according to the National Weather Service 's Kansas City forecast office. Game 3 is now set for 8 p.m. Tuesday, with Game 4 at 4 p.m. Wednesday and Game 5, if necessary, at 4 p.m. Thursday.

There's a delicious surprise in the new issue of Sun Magazine. You have to know what you're looking for, though. There's so much to read and see in the 175th anniversary celebration issue of the Sun Magazine, great pieces by Sun staffers, past and present, and charming essays by Marylanders whose lives have been affected by the Baltimore Sun. But the surprise I'm talking about accompanies an essay by retired dining critic Elizabeth Large...

The Baltimore Sun is launching a new food-truck finder. Here it is , in its beautiful beta version designed by Baltimore Sun Production Technology Manager Adam Marton. The trucks' locations were provided to the Sun by an association of Baltimore food trucks in the form of a monthly schedule. Obviously, the locations of an individual truck on a specific day may have changed since this schedule was created. The Twitter box on the Sun's food-truck finder should is a good place to look for hour-by-hour changes.

This Sunday's Sun Magazine is devoted to dining, and the magazine's centerpiece is our list of Baltimore's 50 best restaurants. You can have a look at that list now, in a beautiful new interactive database designed by Baltimore Sun web producer Greg Kohn. But there's more. You can also see what Baltimore Sun readers said were their 10 favorite restaurants, along with our lists of favorite Baltimore d esserts , some of the best new dishes we've met in the past year and our favorite inexpensive dishes in the city.

The Baltimore Sun turns 174 years old today, and I sure hope that means cake and ice cream in the newsroom. It's worth noting the milestone, with or without birthday party treats, since so much has changed since the paper first rolled off the presses on May 17, 1837. The most obvious transformation is one that Arunah Shepherdson Abell, the Rhode Island printer who founded the paper with two partners, could not have even imagined: The Sun doesn't just exist on paper anymore.

WEATHER Mostly cloudy today with a shower, and a high of 69, and a low of 61. TRAFFIC Get the latest on delays for this morning's commute from baltimoresun.com TRENDING THIS MORNING Happy Columbus Day! You won't be able to go to the library to pay that fine in some counties, so check our list of closings of government offices, public transit options, and, of course, local libraries before you head out today. And while the Ravens took an easy win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers yesterday, the Washington Redskins had no such luck, losing to the Arizona Cardinals 30-20.

The July death of a 10-year-old disabled foster child has been ruled a homicide — six years after the Baltimore city boy's mother was accused of shaking him into a coma-like state, Baltimore police announced Monday. Damaud Martin died July 2 at an Anne Arundel County group home that state regulators were in the process of closing down for multiple problems. State health officials are investigating whether Damaud received adequate care while living at the home, which was run by a company called LifeLine, but have cautioned against drawing any premature conclusions.

Democrat Anthony G. Brown holds a modest lead over Republican Larry Hogan in Maryland's race for governor, but many voters have not firmly made up their minds and the outcome is far from certain, according to a new poll conducted for The Baltimore Sun. The poll by OpinionWorks of Annapolis found Brown leading Hogan 49 percent to 42 percent. Though Brown has a 7-point lead, the poll found his backers are less solid in their conviction than Hogan supporters. And many in Brown's camp are younger voters, a bloc that historically is less likely to vote.

Most Maryland voters agree that the Ravens were right to fire Ravens running back Ray Rice, but a higher percentage of women than men thought the team's punishment was too severe, according to a new poll for The Baltimore Sun. Fifty-nine percent of men said they supported the team's decision to terminate Rice's contract, while 52 percent of women agreed with the punishment for punching his then-fiancee in an elevator of an Atlantic City casino....

The International Space Station, carrying astronaut Reid Wiseman of Cockeysville, flew over Baltimore Wednesday, and will do so again later this week. It was visible Wednesday from about 7:45 p.m. to 7:51 p.m. The ISS moved across the sky from southwest to northeast, looking brighter than a star but farther away than a plane. It will appear dimmer in a flyover Friday, low across the northwestern sky from 7:44 p.m. to 7:49 p.m. #sigshell { float: left; width: 320px; height: 52px; margin: 20px 0px; display: block; }

Andy Joyce drove his tow truck just after midnight to a West Baltimore service call, where he met a mother and small child waiting with their disabled vehicle. It was Nov. 1, 2010, and the 23-year-old had only worked a few weeks for Gordon Kelly's Quick Response towing company. It was the end of his shift. The mother and child got a ride from someone as Joyce lowered his truck's bed to tow the Dodge Durango near Mosher Street and Druid Hill Avenue. About two hours later, a passerby noticed the truck's door open, engine running, and Joyce slumped inside.

The Baltimore Sun canvassed readers, sources and leaders to determine the area's most intriguing movers and shakers of 2014. Here's our list: Keshia M. Pollack 35, associate professor of health and policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Keshia Pollack spends a lot of time thinking about kids walking to school on Baltimore streets, service members riding in Humvees on the battlefield and Major League...